Postcard from Neuchatel Photo

Photographer’s Note

Neuchâtel (literally: New Castle in Old French) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. The city had as of December 2007 approximately 32,600 inhabitants, by and large French-speaking, although the city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name Neuenburg, which has the same meaning, since Prussia ruled the area until 1848.

Neuchatel is a really charming little town. It has a fantastic location: across the lake which reaches deep into the city center, you can admire amazing panorama of Alps.
I am not quite happy with the photographs which I took in this town but because I wanted to “send you a postcard” from Neuchatel I attempted to rescue one of them.

This photograph presents Place des Halles and in the centre you see Maison des Halles (16th century).

Actually I had an unpleasant situation down there in this very restaurant. I arrived in Neuchatel very hungry after the whole day of travel in the late evening. The personel spoke only French and when I tried to order in English or German it did not work. I tried to use hands for communication, as I did it successfully many times in Spain, Italy, Greece etc. In the end I left and ate at McDonalds. Similar thing happened to me when I tried to buy a postcard in a newsstand. There were few more similar situations. People refused to communicate, instead they were talking a lot in French in spite of me saying in French that I don't know this language and trying other languages. I was very much surprised because in the German speaking part of Switzerland people were very helpful and speaking many languages switching easily between them.

Amaz, mikolaj_kawa, sandpiper, darek1978, ophelcia, hispic, ktanska, Kielia, jjanczyk, ryo, sunamoon, MLINES has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Amaz (6662) 2009-07-21 1:07

Very pleasant capture, Mariusz!!
Lovely architecture!!
Fine colors and good composition!!

Very well done!!

Best regards,

jurek1951 (25952) 2009-07-21 1:08

Witaj Mariusz,
w pierwszej chwili myslalem ze to fotka z Kiermaszu swiatecznego,pieknie oswietlona architektura stwarza niecodzienny nastroj,w takiej sceneri mozna posiedziec przy piwku,pozdrawiam
Jurek

bracasha75 (22031) 2009-07-21 1:12

Hey Mariusz
Neuchatel is realy beautiful city and i like this scene and the blue hour is excellent choise for this work
Thanks for sharing
Bratislav

pauloog (6467) 2009-07-21 1:32

Hello Mariusz,
Beautiful light in this evening view with an excellent atmosphere. An invitation to sit down and have a glass of wine! But your language experience unfortunately said otherwise...
Regards,
Paul

mikolaj_kawa (30019) 2009-07-21 1:36

Czesc Mariusz! Nic tylko przysiasc sie do tego towarzystwa, pic wino, przysluchiwac sie rozmowom i podziwiac architekture. Klaniam sie!

mauro61 (15422) 2009-07-21 1:54

ciao mariusz,
ottimo l'effetto cromatico e la elaborazione in PP.
Magnifico notturno che mostra un angolo di vita circondato da belle architetture.
ottimo lavoro
saluti
maurizio

dta (5079) 2009-07-21 2:14

Hello MAriusz ,
Vey nice picture ! It looks like in a fairytale books . Even the square scene is contemporary . An outstanding architecture .
Regards

mkgoyal2004 (659) 2009-07-21 2:18

Hi Mariusz Kamionka,

Very nice shot of dusk time. You have rightly given the name of the photo, postcard. It is looking like that. Congrats.

sandpiper (1593) 2009-07-21 2:21

Hi Mariusz

Great postcard, love the architecture, pastel colours and the resturaunt. I am shocked that you could not communicate. I had no problems in other parts of France, though I did try hard to speak teh local language.

Chris

darek1978 (11175) 2009-07-21 9:06

Czesc Mariusz,
Kreatywnosc obrobki stawiam tutaj na pierwszym miejscu co pociaga za soba kolorki- naprawde wysmienita robota. Druga sprawa to atmosfera na zdjeciu- gora dosc "christmasowa", tylko ten piwny klimat w dole ja wyklucza ;) Musze przyznac, ze zdjecie zacheca do odwiedzenia tego miejsca a bogata w detale architektura cieszy oko nie tylko fotografow. Klasa!!
Pozdrawiam,
D.

ophelcia (5362) 2009-07-21 13:00

Kolorki wypasik i Twój ulubiony temat blue hour dodaje smaczku, don't worry, mój pierwszy raz w Pizza Hut był Chinach, KFC, MCD też...tam wiem tylko jak powiedzieć dzoień dobry i dziękuję:)
Gorzej z czytaniem:)
G.

Fis2 (45725) 2009-07-21 14:04

CZesc Mariusz!
Fajne miejsce.
Podoba mi sie kadr i kompozycja.
Ale kolorystyka wypatrza klimat tego wspanialego miejsca. Troche jak z bajki.
Ale wklad pracy widac ;)
Pozdrawiam
Krzysztof

emka (21331) 2009-07-21 14:09

Witaj Mariusz, Och te nieuzyte żabojady! Ale z karty nic się nie mogłeś zorientować? Trzeba bylo wziąć cokolwiek, byloby lepsze niz McDonalds. zastanawiam sie, czy mi sie cos takiego zdarzyło i chyba nie, zawsze sobie jakos radzę z jadłospisem..
Ale widoczek bajeczny. Świetne kolorki i co za ostrość!

Pozdrawiam

Małgorzata

hispic (7399) 2009-07-21 20:04

Hi Mariusz,
Nice capture of very attractive street! The depiction of buildings is truly excellent, especially three-dimensional impression is supreme though the sky is a little bright. I like also this warm tone a lot.
Regards, Hisashi

ktanska (16545) 2009-07-21 23:30

Hi Mariusz,
Beautiful blue hour shot from Neuchatel's old town. I guess this has required quite a lot of PP, but the result is impressive.
A pity you hit the language barrier, and so close to German regions. Yes, sometimes I feel I could speak Finnish as well.
Kari

AiresSantos (42010) 2009-07-22 23:10

Hi Mariusz
Wonderful night picture in the blue hour. Excellent details, colours and sharpness
Fine atmosphere in the esplanade. Light well handled
TFS and have a nice day
Aires

luighi (4094) 2009-07-24 9:05

Hi Mariusz ,
Espectacular captura , una fotografia de postal para turistas.
No me gusta el recorte superior pero tiene una increible luz y colores.Buen trabajo.
Un saludo.
Luis

Kielia (8445) 2009-07-24 22:29

Hi Mariusz,
very beautiful impression of the blue hour with amazingly beautiful colors, the image almost looks like a painting!
I also enjoyed reading your very well written note although you had this very unpleasant experience.
Warm regards
Harriet

jafadabret (39541) 2009-07-25 2:14

Witaj Mariusz.
Cette photo de ce vieux quartier à l'heure bleue est une réussite. J'aime cette ambiance de détente dans ce cadre d'une grande beauté.
bon weekend !
Jacques

jjanczyk (1803) 2009-07-25 15:24

Witaj Mariuszu!
Doskonaly kadr! Swietna obrobka :)
Fantastyczna kolorytyka i wspaniale swiatlo.
Mnie rowniez, w kilku miejscach w Szwajcarii, zwlaszcza tej francuskojezycznej zdarzylo mi sie miec problemy z komunikacja, dlatego zaczelam sie uczyc francuskiego :)
Pozdrawiam

ryo (13) 2009-07-28 7:07

Hi!

Nice image of my little city, even if it's been done before... (this is not to be nasty, mind you!).

I can relate to your situation in the Maison des Halles, and if it can reassure you, people speaking French since birth can be treated like dogs in there too. I'm more concerned about the incident at a newsstand, but this restaurant doesn't make any efforts to be nice, they just enjoy what we in French call a "rente de situation": where they are, they know that people will simply come, and we get (just) enough tourists that those who swear they will never eat there again are compensated by those who discover the place...

I'll mention this to a friend of mine who works in the tourist's office - no names, never mind!

Cheers,
Olivier

sunamoon (5057) 2009-07-28 15:21

Hi,

Otra genial escena nocturna, con grandes fachadas y coloridos,
me encanta la casa del restaurante, preciosa!!! buenos colores pero quizás mucha definición pero parece un lugar encantador. Buen trabajo!

Saludos,
Elena

MLINES (10872) 2009-07-29 16:38

Hi Mariusz,
A real fairy-tale setting and well timed in the blue-hour. It is a pleasure to see such a place to dine. I like the fact that the buildings rather than the diners is the major focus in this photograph. TFS. Murray.

ilDottore (4004) 2009-09-12 15:25

Hej Mariusz,
Wiesz Ty co?
Wkurzasz mnie jedynie takimi widoczkami... :)
Nawet na weekend tam się nie wybiorę bo do listopada ani jednego weekendu w całości wolnego... Więc mnie wkurzasz.
Wkurzaj dalej - przynajmniej się pogapię... ;)
Boże co za cudne miejsce.
Pozdrówki!
Krzysiek